


Balance

by MissAtomicBomb77



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 09:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1118497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAtomicBomb77/pseuds/MissAtomicBomb77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Charlie, I’m serious. You need to cut back on your hours.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Balance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JayMitchell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayMitchell/gifts).



“Have you heard of work life balance?”

Charlie involuntarily jumps and drops the folder he was holding in the doorway of his office. “Jesus Christ Leona! You scared the hell out of me!”

“The devil himself couldn’t scare the hell out of you. I startled you and that’s different.” She’s sitting in his desk chair, spinning it left to right, obviously out of boredom. “I was wondering if you had actually gone home and maybe just forgot to turn off the light. So I was going to turn it off for you, but no, computer was on, drink on the desk. No, you were very much here at 1:41 am on a now Thursday. You can’t be working all of these long hours.”

She may have been talking, but he was staring at the mess on the floor, muttering to himself. “I am never going to get this back in the right order.” He peels his glasses off his face and rubs the bridge of his nose. After a moment he sighs and crouches down now and starts to retrieve the errant pieces of paper. A sly smile curls on his lip as he remembers once again a minor truth to Leona that only seems to apply to him. She manages to make a mess of things when she’s trying to do something good.

It only takes a moment before a black high heel is in his field of vision, pointedly claiming a piece of paper that Charlie was about to pick up. “Are you listing to me?” She asks.

He looks up from his crouching position on the floor over the rim of his glasses. “I’m sorry,” he says mockingly. “Were you saying something?” It was old trick out of the arsenal: ignore her to get her goat.

“Charlie, I’m serious. You need to cut back on your hours.” Her foot remains planted in place on the paper.

He rocks his head to the right and takes a long hard look at that foot that’s in front of him. Soon he lets his eyes wander up the rest of the way to as much as they are able, which is quite a bit, all things considered. He’s not even going to attempt a lie for she’s always had great legs. He lets a crooked grin escape his lips when he imagines the rest of the view he can’t see before he’s looking up at her over his glasses now.

She smirks. “Dirty old man,” she mocks as she steps off the piece of paper.

“Oh, I’m hurt. I have nothing but the utmost respect for you.” he asks now, back up right in a moment, gathering the last sheets of paper from the floor. “Even if you are here distracting me, keeping me from finishing my work so I could go home.”

“Ah, so you were listing,” Leona says, taking a seat on the other side of his desk.

“Like 40%.” He says, reclaiming his seat on his side of the desk. “The owner of the company was in here and she was prattling on like she often does.”

“I don’t prattle.” She says in her own defense.

“You prattle. Gibber, babble, jabber. Pick the one you like.” He drops down into his chair and drops the folder on his desk. “What are you doing here so late?”

“Working,” She responds.

Charlie gives her a look akin to watching someone fall off the turnip truck. “Are you serious? You’re going to give me crap for doing exactly what you were doing? What’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander?”

“Yeah, well they cook geese,” she responds, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her knee.

“How reassuring,” he says. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

“What I was trying to tell you while you were on the floor. You need to get some rest. You’ve been here late every night this week and I honestly don’t think you went home Sunday.”

His eyes narrowed. “What? Did you check the security-“

“Of course I checked the security logs,” she finishes. “I own the damn building, Charlie.”

His face contorts and this time, when he peels the glasses off, he drops them on the desk. “There’s just a lot going on,” he confesses. “It’s like there’s been a full moon every night the last two weeks. Dayside loses their mind over losing an hour for an economics special and once I have that together, the kids at Capital Report were all over each other for – I don’t even fucking remember now. Then I have Don and Elliot and the Twitter scrolling business which I don’t know why it’s a thing but it is. I’ve been playing Dad all week. Then your son…”

“Careful buster,” she chides softly.

“My boss,” he says, changing tactics “has been all over me about the numbers because he wants to change what we’re charging for ad time during the news blocks.” He leans back and holds his arms out. “There’s just a lot going on.”

She nods then starts to look around the office. “Where do you sleep? In here?”

He points behind her. “I take two of those chairs, kinda like a hammock thing. It’s not the most comfortable, but it serves its purpose. I used to sleep on the floor,” he points to the far side of his desk. “But I scared the janitors a couple of times so I now I use the chairs.”

“That can’t be good on your back,” she says.

“Eh,” he says shrugging, crossing his arms in front of him. “I’ve slept in worse places.”

“Don’t,” she says softly. “Go home. Get a hotel room at the least, charge it to me. I don’t want people thinking I’m working you to exhaustion. That I’m keeping you like a bird in gilded cage.”

“No one thinks that, Leona. I’m just dedicated.”

“Are you?” She asks.

“You know I am,” he says softly. “Come here.”

She looks at him quizzically, but does so and as she comes around, he gets out of his chair.

“Sit,” he tells her. Leona does, skeptically. Charlie moves the chair slightly to the left, towards the door. “Lean back a little. What do you see?”

“I see the hall.” She says, not understanding what he’s getting at. 

“I can see when you leave for the day.” His hand finds her shoulder and he gives it a gentle squeeze.

Her mouth hangs open for a moment and she snaps it shut. Her hand crosses her chest and she covers his hand with hers. “You should go home when you need to. I keep long hours.”

“I know you do and thought maybe just maybe if you could see it in someone else you might dial it back a little bit.”

“I don’t think so,” she says. “But I appreciate the thought, really.”

“You know if you ever need anything Leona, you can come to me.”

She pats his hand. “Charlie, when it comes to the important things, you’ve done everything I’ve ever asked of you and a few things no one should have ever asked of you and I thank you for it.” She stands now. “However, now, I’m going home and I would like for you to do the same.”

“Yes ma’am,” he says as she exits his office.

A few minutes later, he’s still at his desk, sitting in his chair, finishing the last of his drink. His chair is a little to the left, he’s titled back.

She’s in his line of sight now, long black coat, oversized handbag and briefcase. However she stops now and looks at him. She tilts her head, an indication that she’s leaving and is soon out of his line of sight towards the elevators. Charlie takes a moment and gathers his things, his trench coat and briefcase. Charlie turns off light as he leaves the office. When he rounds the corner for the elevators, she’s there, waiting. He’s not surprised, really.

Once in the elevator, she wraps her arms around his and leans on his shoulder, just for the ride down and thinks to herself on what a good man he is, especially to her. Even after everything they’ve been though, that he still cares enough to look after her. When they reach the ground, she lets go of him and he lets her pass first. She goes to the left for her private car and he heads to the right so he can hail a cab. Neither one looks back, they don’t need to. They’ve taken care of each other for now and will do it again when needed in the future.


End file.
